The Joy
by darkruler64
Summary: My Telling of Naked Snake's final confrontation with The Boss.


Snake and Eva finally made their way out of that God-forsaken jungle and spied a WIG parked next to a lake.

"We made it…" she breathed.

She ran toward the WIG, but came to a halt when she realized that Snake was not ready to go.

"It's the Boss, isn't it?"

She was right…Snake had unfinished business with the Boss. He had to know why she was doing what she was doing.

"I'll get the WIG ready to take off." she said solemnly. "Just come back in one piece."

Snake nodded slowly and began trekking back toward the jungle through a field of white lilies when he heard a deafening roar behind him. He ducked in time to avoid being scorched by a torrent of flame. When he rose again, the Boss was standing before him, looking grim.

"Life's end…isn't it beautiful?" she asked. "Beautiful…but tragic. When life ends, it gives off a final lingering aroma. Life is but a farewell gift from the darkness."

The melancholic poetry of her speech stirred something within Snake…something he couldn't identify.

"I've waited for a long time, Snake. For your birth…for your growth…and for the finality of this day."

"Why, Boss…why are you doing this?" Snake asked as he gazed into the icy eyes of his former mentor.

"Why? To make the world whole again. Yes…the world was once whole…but with the end of the second world war, the philosophers began to fight amongst themselves and the world was torn apart. The Cobras…my comrades…were torn apart as well. The fallacy of politics can turn friends into enemies just as easily as the winds can change."

She held out her hand to caress a stray lily petal and gazed into the dim sky.

"Ridiculous, isn't it? Yesterday's ally becomes today's enemy. And this cold war…think back…when I was leading the Cobras, America and Russia were fighting together. Now, do you think America and Russia will still be enemies when the next century comes? No…enemies change with the flow of the ages and we soldiers are forced to play along. I didn't raise you and mold you into the man you are just so one of us could destroy the other. A soldier's skills aren't meant to hurt friends!"

There was something subtle in the way the Boss spoke…something Snake couldn't identify…what was it?

"So then what is an enemy? Is there such a thing as a timeless enemy? There is **no **such thing…and the reason is that our enemies are human beings just like us. Are you starting to understand, Snake? The world **must **be made whole again! The philosophers **must **come together again! I have devoted all of my skills to that end and with the colonel's money, I will achieve that end…just as I created the Cobras. They are my family."

She tore of her raincloak and unzipped her sneaking suit the reveal a ghastly scar that snaked down her torso.

"This scar is proof that I was once a mother…I gave up my child, my body, and my life for my country. There is nothing left in me now."

And yet the tear sliding down her cheek was unmistakable. She whipped out a walkie-talkie at her side and said "commence operation".

"I raised you…I cared for you like a son…I gave you the skills you need and endowed you with knowledge and wisdom. All that is left for you to take…is my life. One of us must live…the other must die…and the one who walks away from here will inherit the title of 'Boss'. And the one who carries the title of 'Boss' will face an existence of endless battle."

She loaded the Patriot, her modified Colt XM-16E1, and dropped it on the ground next to her.

"You have ten minutes until MIGs arrive and bomb the hell out of this place." she said, the vigor returning to her voice. "Beat me in less than ten minutes and you can make it out of here alive!"

"Boss…"

"You're a soldier, Snake. Let me see what you're made of!"

Before another word could be spoken, she sprinted toward him with lightning-swiftness and pelted him with kicks. The Boss had incredible speed, Snake could never lay a hand on her…but he was younger…he could take a lot more punishment than her. He grabbed her leg and hurled her into a nearby tree trunk. He then snatched up the Patriot and prepared to fire, but she was nowhere in sight. He could hear her circling him…waiting for him to drop his guard…so that's just what he did. He dropped the patriot.

"Your friends were fools, taking their emotions into battle with them!" he called out. "That's how I beat them so easily!"

She dashed out of her hiding place and attempted a lunging kick, but he seized her ankles and slammed her onto the ground. She broke free of his grip, swept her leg and tripped him. She then pounced on him and drove her fist into his jaw, knocking a couple of his teeth out. He retaliated by driving his fist into her solar plexus so hard that she fell back. He pulled his last grenade from his belt, pulled out the pin, and sprang to his feet. He prepared to cast it down on her, but she'd disappeared again. With no time to waste, he tossed the grenade in a random direction and it exploded, producing a blizzard of lily petals. This was no longer a battle between man and woman, student and mentor, or even two soldiers! This was a battle between two souls who couldn't afford to lose! The Boss rolled out from a nearby tree and seized her Patriot, but Snake kicked it out of her hand. She pulled his dagger out of its sheath and tried to thrust it into his heart, but he twisted out of the way and struck her hard in the temple. She staggered back, stunned from the blow and he grabbed her by the torso. He lifted her high above his head and brought her down on his knee. He could feel her spine snap from the force, it was a sickening sound. Snake dropped the broken body of his old mentor on the ground. What he saw in her ice-blue eyes was not defeat, nor anguish, but pride. He picked up her patriot and aimed it at her heart.

"Do it…" she rasped. "Don't let me suffer. Do it…and go…"

Snake pulled the trigger; there was a blinding flash and a deafening bang and it was over, his old mentor was gone from this world. Her ice-blue eyes stared into infinity as he pulled the microfilm depicting the Philosopher's Legacy from her belt. He had no time to grieve for her now…he had to get the hell out of here.


End file.
